Hope and Holiness
Author: Robert L. Rawlings
I Peter 1:1-2
I would like to suggest you have your Bible open to I Peter, chapter one as you read the following.
Have you ever thought of Peter as the “apostle of hope?” The epistles of Peter are a gold mine for understanding the depth and maturity of Peter’s holiness theology which declares the relationship between holiness and hope. Hope as understood by an unbelieving world always has a tinge of doubt as to the outcome. Peter writes of a “know-so” kind of hope, not a “hope so” kind of hope.
This hope is bathed in Peter’s understanding of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (1:2). Peter makes it clear that hope’s legitimate object is the holiness of the believer. We are called to be holy as He is holy (1:14-16). It begins in the Spirit-inspired preaching of the gospel. Purity is achieved by “obeying the truth.” Obedience happens when hope appropriates the sprinkled blood of Christ and the power of Jesus’ resurrection. Hope, stated another way, informs a life of holiness.
There is no hint that the gift of the Spirit is progressive, but, as an endowment, causes our hope to progress as we drink the Spirit- breathed word. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (2:1). A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance’ (1887) notes, “There is therefore, a sense in which the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost is at once immediate and progressive.”
Let us summarize Peter’s understanding of hope:
Hope is sanctified through the Holy Spirit.
Hope is grounded in the suffering of Christ.
Hope is assured by the resurrection.
Hope anticipates the “glories that would follow…”
Hope is exemplified in holy obedience, obeying the truth.
Hope appropriates the eternal inheritance of a holy God.
A. B. Simpson also notes the …” The Holy Ghost is the earnest of our future inheritance, and He brings its foregleams and foretaste to us here.”
Paul in Romans 15:13, confirms Peter: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may over flow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit inspires hope as the Sanctifier.
Author: Robert L. Rawlings
I Peter 1:1-2
I would like to suggest you have your Bible open to I Peter, chapter one as you read the following.
Have you ever thought of Peter as the “apostle of hope?” The epistles of Peter are a gold mine for understanding the depth and maturity of Peter’s holiness theology which declares the relationship between holiness and hope. Hope as understood by an unbelieving world always has a tinge of doubt as to the outcome. Peter writes of a “know-so” kind of hope, not a “hope so” kind of hope.
This hope is bathed in Peter’s understanding of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (1:2). Peter makes it clear that hope’s legitimate object is the holiness of the believer. We are called to be holy as He is holy (1:14-16). It begins in the Spirit-inspired preaching of the gospel. Purity is achieved by “obeying the truth.” Obedience happens when hope appropriates the sprinkled blood of Christ and the power of Jesus’ resurrection. Hope, stated another way, informs a life of holiness.
There is no hint that the gift of the Spirit is progressive, but, as an endowment, causes our hope to progress as we drink the Spirit- breathed word. “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (2:1). A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance’ (1887) notes, “There is therefore, a sense in which the sanctifying work of the Holy Ghost is at once immediate and progressive.”
Let us summarize Peter’s understanding of hope:
Hope is sanctified through the Holy Spirit.
Hope is grounded in the suffering of Christ.
Hope is assured by the resurrection.
Hope anticipates the “glories that would follow…”
Hope is exemplified in holy obedience, obeying the truth.
Hope appropriates the eternal inheritance of a holy God.
A. B. Simpson also notes the …” The Holy Ghost is the earnest of our future inheritance, and He brings its foregleams and foretaste to us here.”
Paul in Romans 15:13, confirms Peter: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may over flow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit inspires hope as the Sanctifier.